Joep Wennemars went under the previous Olympic record in the men’s 1500m speed skating. But so did three others
P
icture this: you are on the verge of breaking an Olympic record. The cheers, the spotlight, your name etched in history. The magical initials – OR – next to your name until it is next broken. You have got a gold medal waiting to be draped around your neck? Wait, no gold? Silver, maybe? Nope? Surely bronze? No?! Fourth place?! Ouch.
Such is the life of Joep Wennemars of the Netherlands, who went under the previous Olympic record in the men’s 1500m speed skating. But so did three others.
Ning Zhongyan of China was crowned champion after setting a new Olympic record time of 1min 41.98sec, beating the pre-race favourite Jordan Stolz of the US, who finished with silver in 1:42.75. Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands won the bronze with a time of 1:42.82. Ning proved to be the fastest of them all, taking over a second off the Beijing 2022 Olympic record of 1:43.21 set by bronze medallist Nuis.
